Madrid | Murray trounces Nadal

Day Two of the Mutua Madrid Virtual Open saw Andy Murray emerge as a hot favourite to claim the title as he qualified for the quarter-finals following his overwhelming victory over Rafa Nadal and Denis Shapovalov.

If you speak to Rafa, tell him not to be such a bad loser next time! Andy Murray

The Scot humbled Nadal in 10-minutes losing just one point as he thrashed the world number two 3-0 on the virtual clay of the Caja Magica’s Manolo Santana Stadium featured on the Tennis World Tour videogame which they played from the comfort of their own homes.

Murays, who won his opening match against Benoit Paire on Monday, goes through to the knock out stage while Nadal, an early favourite is eliminated from the competition following his second defeat of the day to Benoit Paire.

Murray pumped his fist into the camera after his victory and although Nadal did give him a thumbs up, he logged off quickly briefly declaring: “Thank you, Andy.”

The Scot didn’t leave it at that declaring during his post-match interview: “If you speak to Rafa, tell him not to be such a bad loser next time!”

Nadal retaliated later: “It makes sense because when we used to play on the PlayStation years ago in pairs, he used to play with Dani (Vallverdu, Murray’s former coach) and it was always Dani’s fault.”

When asked if he could win the event, Murray replied: “I think I have a chance, for sure.”

Technical problems involving poor internet connections have seen both Dominic Thiem and Karen Khachanov forced to withdraw.

Meanwhile in the women’s competition, Belinda Bencic defeated Karolina Pliskova in a tight contest 4-3(1) to make the last eight as did Fiona Ferro when she overcame Carla Suarez Navarro 3-0 having also defeated Pliskova on Monday.

“I’ve tried to play one hour every day for the past two weeks,” Ferro revealed who then went on to beat Bencic.

Earlier in the day Pliskova had put up a confident performance to beat Navarro 3-1.

Johanna Konta’s clash with Elina Svitolina had to be postponed because of internet connectivity problems

In other matches Fabio Fognini beat Kei Nishikori 4-2, David Ferrer defeated John Infer 3-0, Kiki Bertens trounced Donna Vekic 3-0, Victoria Azarenka eliminated Elina Svitolina 3-1, David Goffin outsmarted Alexander Zverev 3-0, Benoit Paire defeated Denis Shapovalov 3-0, Sorana Cirstea beat Victoria Azarenka, 3-0, Caroline Wozniacki swept past Madison Keys 3-0 who also lost a tight contest with Kristina Mladenovic 4-3(3), Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Frances Tiafoe 3-0, Bianca Andreescu defeated Kristina Mladenovic 3-0 and Angelique Kerber squeezed past Eugenie Bouchard 4-3(3) with the Canadian exclaiming “I can’t get a point off you – just like in real life” and adding to her fans “Guys, I usually play better than this – I never double fault – I swear.”